Pulwar

The earliest mention of pulwar begins to occur in 1860. Danish ethnographer Ole Olufsen mentions the use of pulwars in Bukhara "Persian curved swords with a crosshair and Afghan swords with a basket hilt are also used". Confirmation of the use of pulwars in Central Asia is recorded in photographs made at the end of the 19th century. The pulwars were used not only by Afghans who lived in the khanates, but also by the local population.

The blade of a typical pulwar almost always has a slight curvature, a false blade on a small elman and a ricasso. The early specimens have a wide gout, the later ones have one or more narrow ones. The handle of the pulwar is iron, in some cases it is of mace. The neck is barrel-shaped, with a thickening in the center, decorated with engravings of different level of execution; the tip is spherical or hemispherical, often slit or decorated with engravings. It should be noted that small slotted spherical tips are most often found in combination with sham-type blades. If the tip is hemispherical, in the center on the flat side there is often a domed elevation with a shaped loop, to which a leather or silk cord was probably attached, similarly to European temple lanyards (86). The whiskers (ends) of the cross-body are well expressed and lowered to the blade, and their ends are decorated in the form of stylized animal heads. In some cases the hilt lacks a hilt, which is wide and most often slotted. This is clearly a late element (probably the end of XIX century), probably imitating European sabers with arm guards. The hilt was assembled to the old pulwars and was screwed, or, less often, riveted. 

Handle and blade were mounted on resins, but in most cases the shank was fastened through the handle with an additional rivet. Pulvarv sheaths are easily distinguished from shamshir sheaths by their distinctive metal details. Sheath made of wood, always covered with black shagreen leather, often with embossing. Most often missing the mouth of the sheath. The sheath is always ring-shaped. The hanger could be saber or draught. The most distinctive detail of the sheath is a typical tip. It most often occupies a third of the sheath and is made of iron, rarely of wootz steel.

The Pulwar was a typical long-lance weapon of Afghanistan. This is confirmed by sufficient evidence in the literature. "The Afghan sabers are distinguished by a longer length with less curvature, and a very beautiful hilt shape. The hilt is iron, with a rather large beautiful head, with an eye on the end for the passage of a silk strap; the crossbones with the ends dropped down."(80)

The Pulwar is certainly not the most common type of saber in Central Asia, but nevertheless it is an excellent example for the study of the weapons culture of the Central Asian peoples.